


The Love Life of an Army Brat

by Rekshin, Siolo



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: AU, Alec is alive, Collab, F/F, Homophobia, Scott stays awake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-10-31 07:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10894713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rekshin/pseuds/Rekshin, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siolo/pseuds/Siolo
Summary: THIS IS AN AU. The story will be a lot different from canon. Scott and Sara seem like ordinary kids, but they come from a strict military household with some outdated views on the world. When Sara falls in love she has to do what she can to hide it from her parents, and they come up with a brilliant idea. Scott will be 'dating' her girlfriend. || The first few chapters will be some background story on Sara and Scott, after that the story will go over to more canon-ish places and then there will be lots of Sara/Suvi, so stick around!





	1. A new day

The downside of living in a military family? Not having many friends. Sara and Scott used to be outgoing and quirky and found it easy to talk to people, but they had to move every few years. Their father always had a new outpost to serve at and their mother was able to do her work anywhere. Sara and Scott however had to switch schools a lot. After 3 switches they gave up on making friends, the empty feeling they got whenever they had to leave people they finally bonded with was too much. They had eachother and that was enough.

Their father and mother were loving, but strict and sometimes their points of view were a little outdated. 'Those two women are together? That's not natural, it's disgusting.' Sara clenched her teeth trying not to reply to yet another homophobic comment her parents made. She had known it for quite a while now, she was gay, but she couldn't tell anyone because her parents couldn't find out. She didn't have to tell anyone anyways, Scott knew. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she was still visibly annoyed by her parents' comments, luckily they were too busy to notice her irritation.

\--

5 years ago

Sara and Scott were walking through the hallway of their new school, it was the second school switch this year. Classroom 107, this was it. 'You ready sis?' Scott asked, smiling slightly. 'Not really, here's to hoping we get to sit next to eachother.' She smiled and Scott nodded back. Without any further words they entered the classroom.

'Ah! You must be the Ryder twins! My name is Mr. Powell.' A young man stood up from his desk and extended his hand to the twins. He obviously hadn't been a teacher for a long time, he looked way too excited. 'It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Powell' Sara said as she shook his hand. After his older sister Scott shook the teachers hand, but didn't speak up. 

'So, tell us something about yourselves!' Mr. Powell said and he made a gesture at the classroom. Finally Sara noticed how many were sitting in the room and she faced the class before saying 'So, I'm Sara, and this is my younger brother Scott'- 'Aren't you twins?' A  boy in the front row interrupted her. 'Yes, but I was born slightly earlier' Sara said with a grin on her face. Scott gave her an exaggerated eyeroll. 'Always got to rub it in don't you?'. Sara snorted and coughed 'You know it bro. Anyways, we're from a military family and move around a lot, which is why we are here now. That's pretty much it.' Scott nodded his head in approval but stayed quiet again.

'Alright then, thanks for sharing that with us.' Mr. Powell said, still smiling at the twins in a friendly way. 'Sara, why don't you sit next to Sei?' He pointed at a beautiful blackhaired girl in the back with bright green eyes and a beanie. 'And you Scott can sit next to Raydan.' He then pointed at the boy in front row, who interrupted Sara earlier.

Sara gave Scott a look that many would find unreadable, but he knew what she wanted to say 'The son of a bitch separated us..' Sara found the blackhaired girl, Sei, intriguing yes, but she prefered not having to strike up a conversation with anyone but Scott.

Sara dropped her backpack and shoved it under the chair with her foot. She then sat down next to Sei. As the lesson begun Sei spoke up. 'Hey, how are you doing' Startled by the sudden question Sara awkwardly mumbled 'Hm? Me? Oh, I'm uh..good, you?'  
'I'm doing good aswell, can I ask where you went to school before you came here?' Sara was taking notes and Sei was obviously eyeing her notes, trying to copy them, but she also sounded sincerely intrested in Sara. 'I'm trying to take notes. You should be too, instead of copying mine' It came out a little meaner than she intended it to, but whatever. In about two years she'd be gone and Sei wouldn't remember her anyways. 'You're going to be like that? Fucking fine!' Sei said, loud enough for Mr. Powell to hear. 'You two in the back, be quiet please and mind your language.'  
Sei nodded and Mr. Powell continued with the lesson. 'Great, he heard you.' 'You done? I'll take my notes.' 'Alright.'

 Sara went back to taking notes until Sei spoke up. 'So, you're a lot shorter than your brother, huh?' She had a mischievous glint in her beautiful eyes. 'You don't want to go there, Sei.' 'Pssh. I live 'there" There were a few moments of silence before Sei mumbled something '...Shorty' Sara gritted teeth and knocked Sei's chair over with a kick. 'Ouch! Goddamnit!' The whole class and Mr. Powell turned to look at Sei and Sara. Sei was mumbling a long string of swearwords while Sara calmly told the class that Sei 'Got bouncy and her chair tipped over.' Mr. Powell and the rest seemed to believe it and they turned around and continued with the lesson, except for Scott. He raised his eyebrow at Sara. He had clearly seen what she did. She gave him an eyeroll back that said 'Don't bother me now'  he smirked and eent back to his notes.

That's when Sara realised what she had done. She just knocked the girl over! She blushed but hid it as soon as Sei stood up. She was so screwed.


	2. You kissed me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 written by Siolo. The next chapter will be written by Rekshin. (I couldn't help but write another chapter today, haha)

It was time for P.E, after this school would be over. Sara didn't have P.E with Scott, boys and girls were separated and she expected that much. Sara was at the dressing rooms early. She grabbed the new and unfamiliar P.E clothes out of her backpack and put them on. It was a black v-neck shirt with short sleeves and the white logo of the school on it. She also had black shorts. Luckily there was no rule for shoes at this school, so she could wear her favorite indoor soccer shoes. And yes, as crazy as it might sound, she had been at schools before that needed students to wear certain shoes at P.E.

She walked out of the dressing rooms. The equipment at this school was pretty impressive. All kinds of mats, trampolines, even starting blocks for running were there. Sara's attention was immediatly drawn to the back though, where a few punching bags hung.

A woman who was probably in her thirties approached Ryder and greeted her. 'I don't recognise you. You must be Sara Ryder.' 'Yes ma'am, that's me.' 'I'm Miss Smith, your P.E teacher. You're here quite early.' 'Yeah, I wanted to check out the place.' 

Just as Miss Smith opened her mouth to reply someone came through the door and excitedly said 'Hiya, Miss S.' Sara instantly knew who it was. 'Hello Sei, have you met our new student yet' Sei's gaze flicked over to me, she jumped back a bit, startled by the fact I was here. She was so excited she became totally oblivious. Cute. ~Argh, get it out of your skull Ryder, Sei is not cute~ 'Oh believe me, I've met her' Sei said, snapping Sara out of her trance. Sei flashed her an almost predatory grin before turning back to Miss Smith. 'Good, good.'

The other students started to file out of the dressing room and Miss Smith blew her whistle to get everyones attention. 'Alright girls, let's do a warming up. 5 laps, go.' Everyone started running, and Sara was determined to show her best side here. She sprinted to the front of the group and started running full speed. ~Hah, I must be way ahead of them~ Suddenly Ryder heard footsteps directly behind her. Sei was closing in on her! But how?! In the split second of confusion in Ryder, Sei boosted herself forward and was now running next to Ryder. She gave Sara a little wink and faced forward again. Sara found her eyes glued to Sei. Her beautiful eyes, the way the shirt sticks to her body, her hips and- ~No!! Stop looking at her like that Ryder!!~ The five laps were done and Sei and Ryder were left breathless. 'I expected Paege to show off, but it seems like you're a handful too Ryder' Miss Smith said, giving the girls some rest before their next game.

Dodgeball. Sara liked dodgeball, she used to be a softball pitcher so she's good at throwing. She is also fast and short, which made her a hard target. 'Let's pick team captains...Paege, Zhang. You're up. Paege has the first pick.' Sei and a girl Sara didn't recognise stepped forward. Sei looked at the other girls one by one thoughtfully before her gaze landed on Sara. 'I pick Ryder.' Sara was taken aback, but walked towards her and went to stand next to her. 'Why me?' She whispered 'You love P.E because you're good at it. I can see it, because I am just like that.'

P.E was over. They had done a few dodgeball matches, all games were won by 'Team Paege'   as they were dubbed. All the girls and Miss Smith left, but Sara stayed behind. Scott wouldn't mind waiting a bit longer and desperatly wanted to try the punching bags.

She threw quick combinations of punches and kicks and got tired fairly quickly. She panted, trying to catch her breath until she noticed something. Sei was standing there with a smirk on her face, watching Ryder. 'Sei, what are you'- 'You're pretty good at martial arts huh?' 'Yeah, primarily Muay Thai. But why are you watching me?' 'Because what you're doing is impressive. The closest thing to fighting I have ever done is fencing. Teach me some kicks?' Every fiber of Sara's body was screaming no, but 'Sure, come here' rolled out of her mouth before she could process what was happening.

Sara showed Sei some kicks and let her do them after her. 'No, no. You're not using your hips in the spin!' Sara placed her hands on Sei's hips and then realised her grave mistake. She wanted to pull back her hands but felt other hands pulling her back. 'It's okay, show me.' Sei went for the kick again but this time Sara was guiding her hips. 'See, you're hitting harder now.' 'Wow. That's just..wow. Thanks Ryder.' Sei turned around and looked into Ryder's eyes. Sara looked back at her beautiful, bright green eyes, and found herself getting lost in them. They were standing dangerously close to eachother, but Sei stepped even closer. She gently pressed her lips to Sara's. Sara was caught off guard for a split second but quickly grabbed Sei and pulled her flush to her own body, returning the kiss with slightly more passion.

After what seemed like ages they broke the kiss, both gasping for air. 'You kissed me..' 'Yeah, well you kissed me back.' Sei smirked at Sara and she couldn't help but return that smirk. 'I thought you hated me' 'I was being nice, but you were being a jerk.' Sei giggled  
'You were trying to copy my notes!' 'And you dropped me on the floor for it!' 'Oh god..You're right, I was a jerk..' 'You think?' Sara playfully punched Sei's arm. 'Will you forgive me if I give you another kiss?' 'I'll be needing five kisses now.' 'That seems kinda overkill' 'For that the price just went up to 10 kisses.' 'Okay! Okay!'

A bit later Sara walked out of the school, smirking like an idiot.  ~Oh shit!! Scott was waiting for me!~ Scott approached her looking mildly irritated. 'You took your time, eh?' Sara couldn't stop smirking and replied, half laughing 'Sorry Scott, I didn't mean to take so long.' 'You're awfully excited, spill the beans. What happened?' 'Nothing, Scott. Really.' Scott arched an eye brow at her but didn't question it any further.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 will be the LAST backstory chapter, unless you guys want more Sara/Sei. The fate of this story is in your hands.


	3. I've got you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you all have just as much fun reading this as I had writing this. Big thanks to Siolo for putting the finishing touches on the chapter.

Sara and Scott stepped into the unfamiliar house, their new home. They were greeted by the sight of opened boxes and their parents moving things around. 'Hello sweeties, go sit at the table. I'll whip up some food.' Their mother stopped unpacking and went to the kitchen. Scott and Sara exchanged a look, shrugged and sat down without a word. 'Alec honey, take a break, we all have to eat.'

5 minutes long they were eating in complete, awkward silence. It was almost hard to believe they were a family. Alec finally broke the silence and spoke up. 'So, how was school?' 'Fine, dad.' Scott said as Sara just continued eating. 'So Sara, have you met any nice boys yet?' Alec always seemed keen on seeing Sara with a boy. Scott had brought a girlfriend or date home about 3 times, but Sara never even showed interest in anyone. 'Not really dad, I didn't have much time.' She mumbled.

For a moment it seemed like the table would go back to it's awkward silence until Scott excitedly stated 'I met a beautiful girl today, her name is Sei!' Sara whipped her head up. ~What the fuck was he doing?!?!~ She glared at him and Scott's grin only seemed to widen further. 'That's great, Scott. What is she like?' 'She has bright green eyes and beautiful long, black hair. She's nice but also kind of stubborn. Oh, and she sits next to Sara!' 'She sounds great, Scott. Sara, make sure talk to her about Scott, okay?' 'Sure dad' She mumbled, her fists clenched under the table.

When dinner was finished Alec took the twins to the basement where a small gym was set up. He gave them drills to do, and would punish them for slacking off. Their training simulated army bootcamp, because Alec always stated that 'The Ryders are a military family.' And that Sara and Scott have 'A legacy to uphold.' And that they should 'Think and fight like a Commander' by the time they graduate.

'Alright, why don't you two start unpacking your boxes and pick your rooms? The boxes are upstairs' 'Will do, dad.' Scott said as he stood up and followed Sara upstairs. Sara suddenly yanked Scott aside and whisper-yelled at him. 'You like Sei?! What the fuck man!' 'Nope.' 'Then why did you tell them about Sei?!' 'To see your reaction.' 'You!!- What?' Scott smirked at her and said 'I asked Miss Smith where you were when I was waiting for you, she said you stayed behind with Sei. Then you came to me smirking like an idiot. I know my sister, so you being that happy would mean you either liked her or humiliated her. If it was the latter, you would have told me all about it, but you didn't.'

Scott was right. He seemed like a Sherlock Holmes, but he wasn't, he just knew his sister very well. She looked at him with a shocked expression. There were so many things she wanted to say, but only one thing managed to slip out of her mouth. 'You...You knew I was gay?' 'Nah, I had my suspicions but I was never sure.' 'Do you think mom and dad...?' 'If they knew, you would have been in a reformation camp right now.' Scott smiled and tried to reassure her, but it wasn't very reassuring. It reminded her of how twisted her parents could be.

She nodded and stepped into her room, unable to face Scott for now. She sighed as she realised the room was exactly the same as the one in the house they stayed at before, and flopped on the bed.

\--

Sara walked into the class room with Scott on her tail. She greeted Mr. Powell and then looked at the back where her seat was. Sei was waving at her excitedly with a huge grin on her face. Sara waved back and walked to her seat next to her friend? Frenemy who kissed her? Girlfriend? What was Sei to her? She shivered a little at the thought of Sei being her girlfriend. It wasn't a bad shiver, it was sort of a good shiver. She liked the idea of Sei being hers.

'Hey there shorty' Sei said as she shot Sara a wink. 'My height is perfectly average' 'Sure, sure.' Mr. Powell gave the class assignments to work on in silence, so Sei and Sara had to stop their small conversation. After a while Sei started to scribble something on a piece of paper and slipped it to Sara.

'It's a shame that we ended our little session so soon yesterday.. ;)' It said.

Sara smirked as she read the message, she looked to see if Mr. Powell was watching the class and started writing her reply when he turned his gaze to his computer.

'I didn't know you were so eager to kiss me.'

'Oh believe me, I'd have done a lot more than kiss you if I had the chance...'

Sara couldn't stop the little laugh that escaped her lips. She was thinking about the perfect reply to Sei. Should she say something flirty? Perhaps play a little hard-to-get? It had to be something good, something that would drive Sei crazy.

She was snapped out of her trance when someone snatched the paper out of her hands. Mr. Powell was standing infront of her desk with the note in his hand. Sara looked next to her to find Sei facepalming and groaning. 'What's this? Passing notes are we?' Mr. Powell looked at Sara's surprised expression and added 'No one looks down at their crotch and grins.' He kept a friendly smile on his face and walked back to his desk. She looked at the front of the class where Scott was staring at her, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Sara looked at Sei again who shrugged and went back to her assignments, Sara did the same, but glanced over her desk at Mr. Powell. He unfolded the note and started to read. ~Oh gods.....~ His eyes widened a fraction and he stared at the note before noticing Sara was looking at him. He ripped the paper in pieces and put it in the trash can, winking at Sara. Great.... her teacher now knew about her and Sei. Well, were she and Sei really a thing anyways? Did it matter?

Sara tapped Sei's shoulder and released a breath she didn't realise she was holding. 'Sei, can we talk during lunch break? In private?' Sei looked at her curiously for a moment, as if asking what they needed to discuss, but replied with a simple 'Sure.' anyways.

\--

Sara had taken Sei outside, to a little bench where not many people were around, and no one could hear them. She turned around to look in Sei's beautiful eyes. 'What are we?' 'What do you mean?' 'Are we friends? Or....you know...more?' 'Oh!' Sei exclaimed, as if she didn't expect the question. 'It's a little fast but, I like you Ryder. I'm willing to take the shot.' Sara grinned like an idiot, she wasn't able to stop it and she didn't want to stop it. She flung her arms around Sei's neck, giggling like a little girl - which she kind of was. 'Girlfriends it is then.'

Then Sara realised what had just happened. She thought of her parents.... ~Oh god... If anyone told them!!~ She broke the hug suddenly and stumbled back awkwardly. 'Are you alright?' Sei's happy look from earlier was replaced by a concerned one. 'We can't tell anyone.' Sara spurted out. 'Are...Are you ashamed of it?' 'No, nothing like that....It's my parents. They don't know I'm... You know...' 'I'm sure you can tell them, it'll be fine Sara.' 'No, my parents aren't like that. They have some backwards views on love... They'll kill me.' 'You're their daughter! It'll be different.' 'No, no it won't' Sara uttered the last sentence quietly as tears stung her eyes. Sei realised how much Sara feared her parents and she let the argument go. 'Hey...Hey it's okay Sara. I've got you. Do you need a hug?'


	4. You'll be the death of me

She had a few more classes and then it was time for another break. She walked to the cafeteria, a grin on her face, when she spotted Scott in the hallway. 'You look happy, again' 'I have a girlfriend' she whispered at him. 'You what!?' all students turned their head at Scott and he cleared his throat. 'I mean..' He dropped his voice into a whisper 'You what?' 'I have a girlfriend' she repeated, the grin still on her face.

As soon as they entered the cafeteria Sei waved the Ryder twins over. Scott wanted to ask Sara if she wanted him to sit with her, but she was already dragging him to the table. Sei was sitting there with Raydan and a few other boys Sara didn't recognise. 'Hey Scotty-boy!' The biggest boy said, he was obviously a member of the school's football team. 'Sup Isaiah.' Scott replied. Sara wanted to ask how Scott knew this 'Isaiah' but decided to save the question for later. Sei smiled and said 'Come on you two, sit, sit'. Sara took a seat next to Sei and Scott sat next to Isaiah.

'Scotty-boy, you look like you would make a good football player.' 'Is that so? I've never met that many football players.' It was true, Scott was tall and built like an athlete, a perfect football player. Sara was also built like an athlete and she was very agile, but also shorter than Scott. 'Yeah man, you should try out.' Isaiah took a closer look at Sara and raised his eyebrow. 'You look like you can run pretty fast.' Sara was ready to reply but Scott spoke up before she could make a noise. 'She can, she is also great at throwing. She used to play softball as a pitcher.' 'Huh, neat. You should come tryout aswell then.' 'Me? Oh, I'm not sure...' Sara felt a hand on her thigh as Sei leant towards her to whisper in her ear. 'I've always wanted to date a football player.' Sara's eyes widened for a fraction of a second and she quickly said 'But sure, I'll tryout.'

\--

It was Sara and Scott's first game today. Sara put on her clothing and helmet, both in the school's colors and she walked to Isaiah. The past couple of trainings she had become good friends with the boys on the team. She asked Sei to come see her play, but she said she was busy. 'Hey Izzie, you doing good?' 'Golden girl! I'm doing good, there is nothing better than the rush of playing a new season. How is our star quarterback doing?' Sara had earned the respect of the team when she showed her speed and throwing skills. She wasn't big, but she was good enough to be the new quarterback. 'I'm good aswell Iz. Lemme check on my brother.' 'Alrighty, take care golden girl.'

Sara walked over to Scott, who just finished dressing. 'Hey Scott, are you excited for the game?' 'Yeah! As the reciever, you'll have to throw at me a lot, so we're kind of a team within a team.' 'Haha, I might just throw a ball in your face and act like it was an accident.' 'I will kill you if you do that. Anyways, are you excited aswell?' Sara sighed, she didn't want to talk about this right before the game, but she was really bothered. 'Is it because Sei is busy?' 'Bullseye...' Scott placed a comforting hand on Sara's shoulder. 'It's fine Sara. I'm sure she'll come next time.'

The players walked onto the field, there were 10 minutes left until the game would start. There was a really cool vibe at the field, many people had come to watch the season's kickoff. 'Let's go, Lions!' The people chanted. Sara was busy with her warmups when the crowd suddenly started to applaud and catcall. She whipped her head around to find the cheerleaders coming on the field. She rubbed at her eyes, was she hallucinating?

She wasn't hallucinating. That was fucking Sei, in a cheerleader outfit. Sara lightly punched Scott on his shoulder a few times. 'Look, look! It's Sei' Scott smiled at her and the twins waved at Sei, who waved back excitedly.

\--

The boys were leaving the locker room. They had just finished taking a shower. Sara had offered to wait for them and take a shower when they had finished. She took off her sweaty clothes, grabbed a towel, and stepped into the showers.

As she was washing her hair she thought about the game. Not only had their team won, but Sei was there to support her and cheer the team on. The latter was probably the one that made her the happiest.

Sara rounded the corner with one arm as she dried her hair with the towel in the other arm. ~Where are my fucking clothes?~ Sara kept reaching but only touched the wood of the table she had left her clothes on. ~One of the boys must think this is funny or something. It better have been worth it for him when I come after him to murder his ass.~

'Who's got my fucking clothes?' Sara stated with an annoyed tone as she walked out of the showers with the towel covering her. 'If you are here and don't hand me my clothes I will fucking decimate you!' 

'Wow, someone's grumpy today.' Sara looked behind her to see Sei smirking at her, wiggling Sara's clothes in her left hand. 'Looking for this?' 'I'm not grumpy. You're just lucky you'- 'Shhh' Sei interrupted her. She placed the clothes back on the table and walked towards Sara. As soon as Sei reached her she kept walking, forcing Sara back until she hit the wall. Sei stepped closer and Sara placed her hands on Sei's hips and tugged her closer. It felt almost natural, like a reflex. Their faces hovered infront of eachother before Sara caught Sei's lips with her own. The kiss started slow, but graduatly became more passionate and fierce. They broke the kiss and felt eachothers breath on their faces. 'Sei Paege....You'll be the death of me.'


	5. She wasn't perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post! Both of us had exams this week, so we had 0 time for writing. Hope you all enjoy this one though!

Sara was in the cafeteria, waiting for the bell to announce that class would begin. She made sure she came extra early today so she could spend extra time with Sei. She sighed, Sei hadn't showed up yet and the bell could ring any moment now. Scott was checking his phone in complete silence and Isaiah was in a very annoying mood today - Well, annoying for others, he himself didn't notice the difference - So Sara didn't feel like talking to either of them.

A few minutes passed by and the dreaded bell rang. 'Oh, for fucks-' Sara began until she got interrupted. 'Mind your language, Sara.' A familiar girl was standing behind her. 'You took your time, huh?' 'Yeah, my grandpa died.' 'Sei?! Ohmygod, that's awful, I'm so sorry!!' Sara was about to start begging for forgiveness when Sei burst out laughing. 'Kidding, I missed the bus. You should've seen your face!' 'That's awful, Sei. You don't joke about that stuff!' 'I just did. See you later, I'm heading off to Physics!' Sei smiled at her and went off into a different direction. Sara sighed and shook her head, a smile on her face. ~She can be a real pain in the ass, but she's MY pain in the ass.... For fucks sake Sara, that's not appropriate. Note to self: Don't try to put a spin on cliche romantic sentences.~

\--

The day was pretty uneventful. Sara's classes were boring and for most of them Scott or Sei either didn't sit near her or weren't in the same class at all. Even Mr. Powell's class, the last class of the day, was extremely boring. She didn't get to say a word.

The bell rang again, signaling the end of the day. Sara sighed and walked out of class. 'Penny for your thoughts, Sara?' Sei had caught up with her, and looked at her with concern. 'I just wish I could spend more time with you and Scott today...Today sucked.' 'Well....School's over but that doesn't mean we can't hang.' 'I can't... Scott and I promised dad we'd train today, so we have to head straight back to our house.' Sara and Sei finally reached the end of the hall, and found Scott rummaging in his locker. 'Hey ladies, what were you talking about?' Sara sighed 'How much dad sucks for making us head straight home...We need our damn girl time.' Scott finished throwing his stuff in his bag and grimaced for a second. '....Mom and dad would kill you if you brought Sei home.' 'Well, atleast they could see me with a date then.' Sara joked.

Suddenly an idea hit her. She looked over at Sei to find the same look flashing across her eyes. Both girls slowly turned their heads to Scott. 'What? Is there something on my face?'

'We could pretend like you're dating Sei!'  
'We could dress me up as a guy!'

Sara and Sei spoke at the same time, they stared at eachother for a few seconds and then bursted out laughing. 'Sei, I think your boobs and ass would betray your gender.' 'What's that supposed to mean?' 'Your boobs and ass are too nice for a guy's' The girls were still giggling as they spoke.

'Focus ladies. Pretend like I'm dating Sei?!?! Are you out of your damn mind?' 'It's perfect, right?' 'If they find out!-' 'But they won't.' Sara stared into her brothers eyes with a look of determination on her face. 'They won't, Scott.' Scott ran a hand through his hair and sighed. 'I love you sis, but you owe me.' Both women flung themselves at Scott, knocking him over. The three of them were now laying across the floor, other students giving them weird looks. 'Let's get you ladies out of here before you make us complete losers.'

\--

Sara knocked on the door. She looked at the sign on the mailbox. 'Ryder family'. She always heard stories about how family sticks together, how they would celebrate christmas together, and have fun together. She missed that. She didn't have any family besides her mom, dad, and little brother, but the only one who felt like true family was Scott. For a long time she told herself, no, convinced herself, that he was enough. He could have been enough, if she was ignorant. She knows that she shouldn't be complaining, there were people out there doing so much worse. 

People with disease, people who were starving. But she couldn't help it.

'Sara, are you okay?' Her father was standing in the doorway, his brow furrowed in concern. Sara was snapped out of her trance and looked him in the eyes 'Yeah dad, I'm okay.' ~Tssk. "Dad"~ Scott stepped past Sara and was dragging Sei with him. 'Dad, I want you to meet Sei, my girlfriend.' 'That's wonderful, Scott! And it's a pleasure to meet you, Sei. Scott has told me a lot about you.' 'Has he now?' Sei had that trademark smirk on her face, and Sara felt her gut wrenching at the thought of Sei and Scott being a thing. She knew that she had to play along for everyone's sake, but it left her with a bad feeling anyways. 'He sure did.' She replied, trying to match Sei's smirk.

'Scott, Sara! And... Who may this be?' Mother was baking some sort of cake, she loved baking. She looked up from her work, but kept tending to it. 'This is Sei, mother. She's my girlfriend.' 'Oh, that's lovely! Have a seat, we must catch up with eachother!'

Sara wanted to wreck the whole fucking house. Her parents and brother were having a lovely conversation with 'his' girlfriend. ~Why can't they be like this if I bring in a girlfriend??~ They were no family to her, not anymore. All she ever wanted was to see her dad smile at her, as she would become a perfect soldier. She wasn't perfect. Not in their eyes. But being gay isn't a flaw, right? How could they be so against such things. 'Sara, Sei should be sleeping in your room tonight since I don't want any fooling around here. Could you prepare a guest bed?' Sara was snapped out of her angry trance once more. 'Sure mom.' She stood up and Sei quickly did the same. 'Allow me to help you, please.' Sara nodded and the two of them walked upstairs. She heard her dad yell after them. 'And then you will do some training with your brother, Sara!' ~Of, fucking, course he had to ruin today even more~

As soon as Sara got in her room she started bawling. She didn't want to cry, but it was all she could do. She felt familiar arms wrapped around her and looked up to be met by emerald-like eyes. 'Are you okay, Sara?' Sei brushed strands of hair that had escaped Sara's ponytail behind her ear. 'Why can't my parents just accept me? I just want to prove to them-' 'You don't have to prove anything to them, Sara.' Sei interrupted her. 'You don't know anything about my parents, Sei.' Sara spoke through gritted teeth and stepped out of Sei's embrace. 'You don't get what will happen to me if they find out.' 'Maybe I don't, Sara, but I want to help you. Trust me if I tell you that you don't need them.' Sara glared at Sei, even angrier than before. 'Don't need them? They are my fucking parents, Sei!' Sara sighed, in an effort to calm down. 'Sei..I can't do this.' 'Do what?' 'This. Us.' 'I didn't know we were doing eachother' Sei smirked, trying to lift the spirit but failing miserably. 'This is not the time for fucking jokes! You never take anything seriously and that is why I can't trust you with this!' 'You don't trust me?' Sara flopped the matrass on the guest bed and walked to the door without another word. Sei bit her tongue to fight the tears that were stinging at her eyes and followed her downstairs.


	6. I don't even think she is into guys

Sara was hitting the punching bags in the basement while Scott was doing pushups. She thought about her parents again, and Sei. Part of her wanted to dump Sei for good, date some boys, and become that perfect soldier. The other part of her wanted to leave her parents, flip them off. ~This is Sara, and deal with it!~ Leaving the bastards alone, and running off with Sei and Scott. She thought about what she had just said to Sei. 'Scott, I need a break...' 'See you later, sis.'

Sara ran to the living room. No Sei. She ran to the kitchen. Just her parents. Then she ran outside, and she found Sei standing next to the garage. 'Oh, Sara, back to snap at me? You know you are really-' While she was speaking to her Sara closed the distance and dropped on both of her knees, right infront of Sei, silencing her immediatly. 'I'm so, so, sorry Sei.' Tears started to well up in her eyes as she kept talking. 'I had always wanted a family, real family. I thought that being the perfect child in my parents' eyes would make them love me. I thought I had to dump you, and make them happy.' Sara paused to wipe away her tears, she started to clutch at Sei's shirt, her head still pointed down towards the ground. 'But they were never family to me, only Scott was. And that's when I realised it.' She finally looked up at Sei, her whole body trembling. 'Family doesn't have to be related by blood. You have always treated me well, and I was a fool to even think of dumping you. Please-' Sei pulled Sara on her feet before she could start talking, and Sara could now see that Sei's eyes were filled with tears aswell. 'Shut up, Sara' She said, as she pulled Sara in for a passionate kiss.

\--

'We're going out for dinner. Have fun you kids!' 'And Sara, make sure your brother and his girlfriend do not start to mess around.' 'Ofcourse dad, have fun.' The door then got shut. Sara listened as she heard the engine of the car start, and the sound of rolling wheels sounding more and more distant by the second. She yawned. Today had tired her so much. 'I'm going to bed, I really need some sleep.' 'You got weak sis. Good night....and don't have too much fun with Sei, huh?' Scott smirked, waggling his eyebrows at his sister. 'Who says I'm going to bed with her!?' 'But you are, right?' 'Fine, fine.' Sei waved him off and dragged Sara upstairs. 'Let's get you some beauty sleep.'

Sei was trying to sleep, but she couldn't. She kissed Sara on her forehead and left the room. As soon as she was alone Sara couldn't help but smirk. 

Sara was finally asleep when she felt hands running across her stomach. 'Sei, I'm really tired.' 'Then just relax...' Sara rolled over, her back to her girlfriend. 'I said no, Sei, get some sleep.' 'Don't you like this though?' Sei started massaging Sara. She started at her shoulders, lowered to her back and- 'Goddamnit Sei, no means no!' Sei pulled back her hands. Sara heard her moving. She wanted Sei so bad, but she couldn't. First off: Her parents could be home or come home any moment. Second off:  She really was exhausted. After a moment Sara thought the torture was finally over until Sei started kissing her neck and wrapping her arms around Sara's waist. ~Stop her Sara! You're supposed to be in control, don't reward bad behaviour.~ Sara wanted to tell Sei off but  only a 'Sei....' escaped her lips. 'I bet you're wet right now.' Sei whispered in Sara's ear, her breath hot on her neck. 'I am not!' A gasp escaped Sara's lips when she felt Sei's hand quickly creeping in her underwear. 'Liar, Liar, pants on fire. Or underwear on fire, I guess.' ~Don't give in Sara, it's just like having a cat right now, reward them for bad behiaviour and they keep pushing.~ Sara reluctantly pushed Sei off of her.

'I won't be able to keep quiet anyways.' 'I can fix that' Sei rolled over, grabbed a pillow and stuffed it in Sara's face. 'Mmmmph! Mmmmrmm- What the fuck?!?! Are you trying to kill me?!' 'It did stop the sound didn't it?' Sei smirked at her, her green eyes standing out in the dark room. Sara was still catching her breath but chuckled.

~Sei is certainly like a cat, but not a domesticated cat. She's a fucking tiger~ 'Come here, you.' Sara pulled Sei on top of her and passionately kissed her. 'Knew you'd come around.'

\--

'Morning Sara, Sei.' Alec Ryder was in the kitchen, cooking a few eggs. Scott was already digging into his plate when the girls came downstairs. 'Morning, dad.' 'Morning, Mr. Ryder, Scott.' 'Please Sei, call me Alec.' The girls sat down and Alec placed a plate infront of them. The eggs looked a bit funny. 'Don't worry Sei, dad isn't that bad at cooking.' Scott said while Sara was shaking her head behind him and mouthing to her 'HE IS'. Sei ate the eggs anyways. They weren't so bad if you washed them down with enough milk. 'We should get dressed for school, let's go.'

Sara, Scott and Sei were standing in the doorway, Mr. and Mrs. Ryder seeing them off. 'Have fun at school kids!' 'Goodbye! Thanks for letting me stay!'

\--

Sara's parents were called to the Principal's office. With football, Sei and all other drama, she barely had time for school. Sara's grades had dropped, and she risked failing the year.

'Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mr. and Mrs. Ryder.' 'No problem. We want our girl to pass, after all.' Alec was sitting at the table with a stoic expression while his wife stayed quiet and looked more disappointed. 'I would like you to meet Mr. Powell, as one of Sara's teachers I thought he would have some useful input in this conversation.' 'It's a pleasure to meet the parents of two of my favorite students!' Mr. Powell looked happy and cheerful as he always did. 'I hope our daughter hasn't caused you too much trouble, Mr. Powell, she's been acting odd lately.' 'Ah, apart from being distracted by her girlfriend during class, she's been okay.' Suddenly the Ryders' eyes widened. 'Distracted by her girlfriend?' 'Ah, yes. Ms. Paege and Sara have become quite close in a short time, it's lovely to see really.' 'No no, Sei Paege is Scott's girlfriend.' Mr. Powell laughed, seeming totally oblivious of the looks on the faces of the couple infront of him. 'Sei is definetly with Sara. I caught one of their notes that they were passing to eachother. I don't even think Sei is into guys.' 'That's interesting....'


	7. We're in this together now

Classes were over for Sara. Scott as well as the majority of students had one more hour to go so she decided to go get some food and come back afterwards to go home with Scott. As she walked outside she saw her parents standing there, seemingly in a deep conversation. 'Hi mom, hi da-' Sara was silenced by her dads fist flying straight to her jaw. Not expecting the brute force of the punch Sara flew to the ground. Her hand touching her jaw that felt numb. 'We know Sara. About you and Sei.' It felt like time just stopped. They had found out. ~I thought I could have kept it hidden from them until I started to live on my own. I thought I could fool them. God, I was so wrong.~ 'I'm so sorry, I know-' 'You know nothing, Sara.'

It felt like her parents had just stabbed her, but she still felt the urge to please them. They mistreated her, her fathet punched her! All she ever wanted was to be their perfect kid. 'I can stop it. I will make this up to you! Give me a chance, I'm your daughter!' Her father knelt down beside her and spoke through gritted teeth. 'Our daughter is dead.' He threw another punch at Sara's face. Tears were flowing down her face, mingling with the blood. She stood up and ran.

She had no idea for how long she had been running, no idea how long she had to keep running, no idea where she was running to. She only knew there was no turning back. Tears and blood were obscuring her vision. It was blurry all around her. She turned the corner and tripped. Her body fell while one of her feet stayed in their place. 'Goddamnit!' She yelled. Her foot was atleast sprained, maybe worse. The hands she had caught herself with were covered in blood. Scraped? Cut open? She didn't know. She stood up and kept running. She couldn't stop. Fuck the pain. Night was approaching and she had to sleep somewhere. She finally approached a bridge. She figured it was as good as a roof over her head as she was going to get.

She sat down, her back against the wall, resting her injured foot, catching her breath. Her foot wasn't bleeding, but she definetly couldn't put any weight on it anymore. She wiped her hands clean on her pants. Everything stinged. It wasn't too bad however. They were merely scraped, with a few deeper cuts here and there. What did she have to do now? ~Think straight, Sara, focus.~ She grabbed her phone out of her pocket. The screen was shattered, it wouldn't turn on. It must have broken when she fell. She ran her hands through her hair. Tears started to flow again.

'It's a waste to see a pretty girl crying.' Three men approached her, they looked dangerous. The kind of guys her mom would warn her about. 'Fuck off.' Sara muttered, not strong enough to raise her voice anymore. 'Or you'll do what? Kick us with your good leg?' 'I still have my fists' Sara gritted her teeth as the men just laughed at her. 'Almost forgot about that' The tallest of the three men nodded at the other two, who pinned Sara's arms down. She was too weak to struggle, but used all the air in her lungs to scream. 'LET ME GO! SOMEBODY HELP!' The tall man undid his belt buckle and zipped his pants down. 'Don't worry, sweetheart. This will be over soon.'

\--

Sei was standing around the corner of the school building. She skipped class to surprise Sara, since she knew she was done extra early today. Sei was prepared for a "Don't skip class, you idiot!"-Lecture. She only skipped Physics anyway, which she was really good at. 

She waited a few minutes, smoked a cigarette, when she finally saw Sara coming out of the building. She was about to jump out of her hiding spot when she noticed Sara's parents. Shit, how was she going to explain why she came for Sara? She was running ideas in her head like they were some sort of formulas, calculating the results of each approach. Her track of thoughts was stopped however when Alec threw a punch at Sara, knocking the girl flat on her back. Sei wanted to run at him, defend Sara, but the words she caught him saying kept her frozen in shock. "We know, Sara." 

She kept staring, she couldn't move. Sure, Sara had always told her what her parents were like, but damn! He just punched his own fucking daughter. Sara and Alec were talking, but Sei was spaced out, didn't catch much of it. "Our daughter is dead." Sei watched Sara run, blood flowing off her face. She stood there for a few seconds, debating over what she should do. When she finally decided to chase Sara, she was already gone. ~Think Sei, where could she have gone to?~ She thought, she thought, but couldn't come up with anything. She couldn't have gone home right? Not with her parents. Sei grabbed her phone. Ring. Ring. Ring. And then the call got answered. 'Hello? Scott? I think Sara is in trouble...'

\--

'LET ME GO! SOMEBODY HELP!' 'Don't worry, sweetheart. This will be over soon.' Sara closed her eyes. She accepted that she couldn't do anything, not now. She was broken,  mentally and physically. Maybe she deserved this.

Suddenly the tall man fell over. Someone appproached her, with a trash can lid in his hand. ~This is it, he's going to murder me.~ PANG! PANG! She opened her eyes, expecting blood to be flowing down her face again, but there was none. She moved, surprised to feel she wasn't being held back. She looked around, her attackers were splayed over the ground. One man was still standing, panting, bent over a small wall. She was about to run for it when she heard the man's familiar voice. 'Sara? Are you okay?' 'Scotty?!' 

She stood up and flung herself at her brother, crying uncontrollably. 'I thought I was done for.'  'Seems like we're not rid of you that easily huh?' Scott was still catching his breath, but he smiled, knowing his sister was safely with him. 'How did you find me?' 'Sei saw you, mom and dad. She called me saying they'd found out and you had ran away. I have been looking all over town for you.' 'She saw that?' 'Yes, speaking of Sei. We should let her know you're okay.'

Scott grabbed his phone and dialed Sei's number. 'Scott? Have you found Sara?' 'Yes, she's here.' 'Oh thank god. Where are you guys? She's had a tough day, you should get her some rest.' 'We're at the bridge and I don't think our parents will let Sara in the house.' 'Come to mine then. I'll see you later.' 'Bye, Sei, and thank you.'

Scott hung up, and he faced his sister and looked at her foot. 'Can you walk?' 'I can't put any weight on my left foot now, no.' Scott grimaced, but quickly recovered into a smile. 'Then I'll have to carry your fat ass.' 'It's fine Scott, I can hop.' 'Hell no, sis, we're in this together now. I won't let you drag me down with you.'


End file.
